Improvement in clothes-pounders



H. P. LENTZ.

CLOTHES-POUNDER.

Patented Nov; 21,1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIGE;

HENRY P. LENTZ, OF SOMERSET, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT lN CLOTHES-POUNDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 184,634, dated November 21, 1876 application filed October 17, 1876.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY P. LENTZ, of Somerset, in the county of Perry and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful improvement in Washing-Machines, which improvement is fully'set forth in the following specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical central section of the plunger applied to a tub. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view or the plunger.

My invention relates to certain improvements in that class of washing-machines called pounders, the same being adapted to pound the clothes in an open tub with a vertically reciprocating movement, for the purpose of cleansing the same, by an agitation of the water produced by the impact of the plunger and the production of air-currents.

The improvement consists in the peculiar construction of the plunger, whereby the clothes may be more readily and thoroughly cleansed, and the splashing of the water outside of the tub more effectually prevented.

In the drawings, A represents the plunger, which is ot'a conical shape, with two inclines, terminating at the apex in a tubular socket, a, to receive the standard B. Inside of the outer case is arranged a second cone, 0, which opens at its base below flush with the outer case, and opens also at its apex into an airchamber, formed by the upper inclined por ion of the outer case and a transverse partition, D, placed at the junction of the two inclines ot' the outer case. Said inner cone 0 is indented, bent in, or fluted at the points b, and at its intermediate projecting points 6 is provided with tubes d, of a smaller size at the bottom than at the top. These tubes open at the bottom flush with the lower edges of the inner cone and outer case, and open also at the top into the air-chamber above the partition.

in operating the plunger as thus described, a bil'urcated standard, E, is fastened, by means of set-screws, to the sides of a tub, while a lever, F, passes through an eye, f, of the standard carrying the plunger, and is loosely connected at g with the standard attached to the tub. The lever now being moved up and down, the plunger is made to pound the clothes to effect the cleansing. The plunger is loosely suspended upon the lever, being moved about from time to time, to allow it to operate upon all parts of theclothes, while the loose connection ot the lever with the standard E assists in securing the same result. As the plunger descends, the water is forced upwardlyin the inner cone O,surging up through the opening in the top into the air-chamber, there compressing the air, which, with the water, passes down in violent currents through the tubes at against the clothes, the indented or fluted portion b of the cone serving to produce a more even distribution and better action ot'thc plunger upon the clothes, while the recesses formed thereby with the case and partition allow the water at the edges to react durivg the impact against the air-cushion formed therein, and thus prevent the splash ing of the water out ot the tub.

in defining the scope of my invention I would state that I am aware of Patents No. 110,831, 138,034 and other pounders hearing some resemblance to mine, and 1 therefore confine my invention to my particular construction shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The plunger A, consisting of the outer case, having partition D, inner cone (J, opening above the partition into the air-chamber, and having indented or fluted sides 0, tbrming recesses, and the tubes at, opening also in the said air-chamber above, and arranged upon the projecting portions of the cone 0, all combined as shown and described.

'The above specification of my invention signed by me this 7th day of October, 1876.

J. U. 0. MYERS, J. W. WESTALL. 

